(Washington) Donald Trump called on Thursday to remove a Senate rule requiring a majority of 60 votes to adopt a text, at a time when the United States is bogged down in budgetary paralysis due to lack of agreement in Congress.
This rule allows 41 of 100 senators to block any bill before it is debated or voted on, a long-established parliamentary obstruction technique nicknamed “filibuster.”
This mechanism forces Democrats and Republicans to find compromises. Each of the two parties has already used it in the past.
“It’s time for Republicans to play their “TRUMP CARD” and implement what’s called the Nuclear Option – get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it NOW! », Wrote the American president on the night of Thursday to Friday on Truth Social.
Due to the current threshold of 60 votes, Donald Trump’s party must obtain the support of several Democratic senators to adopt a budget text, even if it has a majority in both Houses.
“Well, now WE are in power, and if we do what we should do, it would IMMEDIATELY end this ridiculous “SHUT DOWN” that is destroying the Country,” added Donald Trump.
He did not specify how he wanted to change the regulations. It could lower the threshold of required votes, or immunize certain bills, for example.
The budgetary paralysis, called “shutdown” in the United States, started on 1er October and led to the suspension of salary payments for thousands of civil servants and the shutdown of certain public services in the country.
Food assistance is particularly impacted, with 42 million low-income Americans on the verge of losing access to vital assistance to pay for their groceries starting Saturday.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown could cost the nation’s economy as much as $14 billion.
During his first term, Trump had already tried to end the filibuster, without success.
